On 19 September, Kazan hosted the IX International Islamic Conference, “Technology in the Service of the Holy Quran: from Kalam to Computer”.
The conference was organized by the Centre for the Research of the Holy Quran and the Most Holy Sunnah of the Republic of Tatarstan in cooperation with the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan as part of the implementation of the action plan of the Group of Strategic Vision «Russia – Islamic World».
The IX International Islamic Conference was attended by foreign and local theologians and prominent representatives of the academic circles. Among them there was well-known researcher of the Holy Quran Ghanim Qadduri (the Republic of Iraq), Dr Ahmad Shukri (Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan), Dr Mohammed Al-Waeli (the Kingdom of Bahrain), Dr Mohamed Ali Aatafai (the Kingdom of Morocco), well-known calligraphers Zaki Saif (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and Ali Ibrahim (the State of Qatar), Mufti of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Sheikh Muhammad Rizwe and others.
The main purpose of the conference is to consider a wide range of problems related to the use of technologies in the process of printing, dissemination and further study of the phenomenon of “Kazan Basmasy”, the material production of the Holy Quran at the present stage, the design of new forms of research, the development of recommendations and norms of methodology of studying the process of production of the Holy Quran.
Russian, Tatar and Arabic were the working languages at the IX International Islamic Conference.
The scientific event consisted of two parts: the opening of the International Islamic Theological Conference and a working session.
The conference was opened by Farid Hazrat Salman, director of the Centre for the Research of the Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Republic of Tatarstan, who noted in his speech that the event was dedicated to one of the most important topics in the field of Quranic studies: the incarnation of the unsurpassed miracle of the Holy Quran into material fulfillment. It is no coincidence that the theme of the conference is “Technology in the Service of the Holy Quran: from Kalam to Computer”.
‘For the Tatar people, who made their worthy contribution to the world Muslim civilization, this process played a special role in their further development. The printing in 1803 of the first edition of the Holy Quran in Kazan, which went down in history under the name “Kazan Basmasy”, was the beginning of Muslim Quran printing. The publication of the Holy Quran in Kazan and the use of advanced and accessible technologies had a direct impact on the printing process throughout the Muslim world.
Science, among others, studies the development of human society in terms of technology. What is technology? In our case, by definition, it is a set of methods of processing, manufacturing production of some objects or things, cultural artifacts. Technology is a rather complex systemic formation that has significant features. These features include specially selected and conditioned by the level of knowledge of methods of human activity. Technology has always been subject to the value dominants characteristic of their culture. The most important thing is that technology was created and now exists as an organizing core of social life activity. The development of technology as a whole or its narrow spectrum is inherent to each temporary section of society’s movement forward.
Since the first transmission of Divine truth in the form of Quranic surahs and ayats, people have tried to use the technology of their era to capture spiritual truth and imprint it in material embodiment. The VII century was the age of using palm leaves, animal bones and other improvised material, then up to the XVI century – expensive parchment and paper, and handwriting. The XVI-XVII centuries witnessed the first attempts to use more advanced technology of the epoch and the appearance of the Holy Quran in the form of counted copies of printed editions; the beginning of the XIX century – the use of the printing press for mass production of book products; the XX century – the increased development of book art and, finally, the XXI century – the transition to digital production, digitalization of technology.
Throughout the development of society, technology has served its interests and needs. Thus the Holy Quran, Kalam Sharif (God’s Word), has travelled a long journey of one and a half thousand years to materialize into a product of its era: from chiseled inscriptions on stone to complex digital operations,’ Hazrat Salman said.
In his turn, Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan Kamil Hazrat Samigullin mentioned the history of 6 tafsirs of the Quran in the Tatar language that existed before the beginning of the XX century. He also noted that this year the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan transliterated into Cyrillic the work by outstanding theologian mullah Murad Ramzi and translated its text into modern Tatar literary language. Kamil Hazrat drew attention to the fact that in order to translate the Quran and understand its meanings, it is not enough to know perfectly the Arabic language with its multiple meanings of words and grammar. Apart from it, it is important to have a brilliant command of the language into which the Quran is translated. The Mufti complained that at the moment there are no specialists in Russia who fulfill all the conditions of the mufassir. That is why a team of 40 scientists of different specialities was involved in this work. The Mufti also said that the Spiritual Administration of Muslims plans to prepare the book Ulyum al-Quran (Quranic Sciences), which would reflect the views of Rizaetdin Fakhretdin, Marjani and Musa Bigeev.
Sheikh Dr Ahmed Yusuf Shukri spoke warmly of Tatar theologian Musa Bigeev, calling him a great scholar known not only in Tatarstan, but also throughout the Islamic world.
Rafik Hazrat Mukhametshin, deputy mufti for education, chairman of the Council for Islamic Education, rector of the Russian Islamic Institute, gave a lecture on the origin of Tatar manuscripts of the Quran, the first printed editions of the Holy Book and its translations made in Kazan.
‘Kazan has always been a centre for the study of the Quran, the printing of the Quran, and today already the translation of the Quran into the language of modern technology,’ the scholar said, wishing success in researching new computer technologies for transmitting the words of the Quran.
Rector of the Institute for the Culture of Peace, President of the Europe-Asia International Humanitarian Academy, member of the Commission of the Republic of Tatarstan for UNESCO Affairs Engel Tagirov concluded the first part of the conference by presenting a diploma and Roza Mira gold medal to Mufti of Sri Lanka Sheikh Muhammad Rizwe. Engel Tagirov, addressing the gathered researchers, shared his impressions of the reports he had listened to. He emphasized that this event was ‘a celebration of ideas and spirit, insight and enlightenment’. One of the equally important goals of the event is ‘to make friends and fraternize with each other’.
‘After all, what is the Quran? Is this a finished project by God that is not subject to creative reflection in the paradigm of changing generations and the birth of new challenges, or is the knowledge of God’s book an endless process, just as the knowledge of God himself?’ the scholar asked. ‘This is not only a set of dogmas and rules, but also the key to cognizing new eras and finding answers in complex time periods,’ he continued.
Engel Tagirov wished success to the researchers of the Quran and suggested ‘to plunge into the depth of the Quran so that at the present stage of humanity, characterized as the point of no return or crossing the Rubicon, we could find the answer to the question of vitality of humanity’.
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